Animal Classes
No, animal classes are not like the classes people
have at school!
An animal class is made up of animals that are all
alike in important ways. Scientists
have grouped animals into classes to make it easier to study them.
There are many different animal classes and every
animal in the world belongs to one of them.
The five most well known classes of vertebrates (animals with
backbones) are mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians. They are
all part of the phylum chordata -- I remember "chordota"
by thinking of spinal chord.
There are also a lot of animals without
backbones. These are called invertebrates and are part of the phylum
arthropoda (arthropods). Two of the most commonly known classes in
this phylum are arachnids (spiders) and insects.
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Birds
Birds are animals that have feathers
and that are born out of hard-shelled eggs.
Some people think that what makes an
animal a bird is its wings. Bats
have wings. Flies have wings. Bats and flies are not birds.
So what makes an animal a bird? |
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The answer is feathers!
All birds have feathers and birds are
the only animals that do. The
feathers on a bird’s wings and tail overlap.
Because they overlap, the feathers catch and hold the air.
This helps the bird to fly, steer itself and land.
MORE ABOUT BIRDS > |
Fish
Fish are vertebrates that live in water
and have gills, scales and fins on their body. There are a lot of
different fish and many of them look very odd indeed. There are
blind fish, fish with noses like elphants, fish that shoot down passing
bugs with a stream of water and even fish that crawl onto land and hop
about!
MORE ABOUT FISH > |
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Reptiles
Reptiles are a class of animal with scaly skin.
They are cold blooded and are born on land.
Snakes, lizards, crocodiles, alligators and turtles all
belong to the reptile class.
MORE ABOUT REPTILES > |
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Amphibians
Amphibians are born in the water. When they are born, they breath with gills like a fish.
But when they grow up, they develop lungs and can live on land.
MORE ABOUT
AMPHIBIANS >
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Arthropods
Arthropods is a huge phylum of animals -- it
includes eleven animal classes: Merostomata, Pycnogonida, Arachnida,
Remipedia, Cephalocarida, Branchiopoda, Maxillopoda, Malacostraca, Chilopoda, Diplopoda,
and Insecta.
Any animals that have more than four, jointed legs are arthropods.
Insects, spiders and crustaceans all belong to this class of animals.
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On-Line Activity: Ants
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This is a bit old for most grade school
children, but I've included it for older viewers.
Scientific information is
split into a number of levels: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order,
Family, Genus, Species. (one silly way to remember this is King Phillip, Come Out For Goodness Sake!)
All of the scientific
information about a living thing is called it's
"Taxonomy"
So, for example, if you're
talking about a Trumpeter Swan, it's taxonomy is:
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Kingdom: animal
(scientific name: Regnum animale)
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Phylum: animals with
a backbone (scientific name: Chordata)
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Class: Bird
(scientific name: Aves)
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Order: Water fowl
(scientific name: Anseriformes)
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Family: Anatidae
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Genus: Cygnus
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Species: buccinator
Want to know a little more about the scientific side of
things? Click here!
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